Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013: Books I Read

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope that 2014 is a good year for you!

In 2013 I read only 73 books, a much lower number than in 2012 (when I read 113 books) and in 2011 (91). I blame a busier work schedule in 2013 than the previous year, and I think that owning an iPad makes me much more likely to read shorter works. Here is hoping that I read more in 2014.

If I had to pick three books that I would consider my favorites in 2013, I would single out Lawrence Wright's In the New World, a memoir on growing up in Dallas in the 1960s, which really proved to be much more revealing about the Dallas worldview in 1963 than anything else I read this year in preparation for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy Assassination. John Allen's The Future Church was a timely read with the election of Pope Francis in 2013; the southern church is not more conservative or liberal than the northern church, but is rather focused on issues near and dear to the gospels, especially the poor and evangelism of the world. Finally, Last's What to Expect When No One is Expecting provides a great perspective about the coming demographic decline of much of the world's population and what impact this will have in the next 50 years. A must read, even if it was written by someone at the National Review. Can anyone else recommend some good books that they read this past year?

Greenfield, Then Everything Changed
Greenfield, 43*
Douhat, Bad Religion
Hastings, World War II
Howe, House of Velvet and Glass
Millard, Destiny of the Republic
Howe, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Collins, Catching Fire
Collins, Hunger Games
McClure, The Wilder Life
Collins, Mockingjay
Petersik, Young House Love
LeDuff, Detroit: An American Autopsy
Warren, All Your Worth
MacDonald, Who Stole My Church
Allen, The Future Church
Garrett, Plants of the Metroplex
MacFarlane, The Old Ways
Spec, Walkability
Wright, Going Clear
Goldhill, Catastrophic Care
Binelli, Detroit City is the Place to Be
Wolfe, Back to Blood
Stahr, Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensible Man
Johnson, White House Burning
Burman, Taxes in America
Raboteau, Searching for Zion
Last, What to Expect When No One is Expecting
Folett, Pillars of the Earth
Euginedes, The Marriage Plot
Grisham, The Racketeer
Baxter, The Most Beautiful Walk in the World
Horne, Seven Ages of Paris
Winspear, Leaving All Most Loved
Michener, Texas
Mak, The Village
Heller, Ed Bacon and the Politics of Planning in Post War Philadelphia
Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign
Nadea and Barlow, 60 Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong
Sorkin, Too Big to Fail
McClelland, Nothing But Blue Skies
Packer, The Unwinding
Martin, Dangerous Men
Wright, In the New World
Bizzinger, Friday Night Lights
Bauerville, The Sea
Reisner, Cadillac Desert
Jenkins, The Jesus Wars
Tough, Why Children Succeed
Nutting, Tampa
Howard, Living Large for the Long Haul
Merry, Where They Stand
Penide, Lawn Gone
Biggers, State Out of the Union
Kolker, Lost Girls
Tmoskey, Heads in Bed
Wuthnow, After the Boomers
Russell, Doc
Clark, The Sleepwalkers
Miner, Lessons from the Heartland
Jenkins, New Faces of Christianity
Jenkins, God’s Continent
Waldman, Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
Hastings, Catastrophe 1914
Katz & Fey, Metropolitan Revolution
Townsend, Smart City
Sides & Vareck, The Gamble
Hotta, Japan: 1941
Wasburn, The Nature of Urban Design
Helmreich, The New York No One Knows
Grant, Hope & Despair in the American City
Frank, Dick & Ike: A Strange Political Marriage
Minutalio & Davis, Dallas 1963

3 comments:

I've read nothing on your list so far, so nothing to comment on. other than to say they look like interesting books that if I was a faster or more voracious reader like you are, I'd be interested in burning through some of them.I did read a book by Alistair Horne a few years back called the Fall of paris, about the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, and found it very well written. I've never read the seven ages of Paris, but I'd recommend the Fall of Paris.